More Veteran Suicides Than Combat Deaths

I knew there was a high rate of suicide among veterans since pain medications have been restricted, but I had no idea that those on active duty are also dying from suicide (though I’m not terribly surprised).

It is no secret that the leading cause of death among active duty troops deployed to the Middle East is not combat or accidents, or IEDs — it’s themselves.

The Pentagon’s own statistics show that this is a crisis but it is being ignored.

This crisis is also happening in the civilian population. No one is making the logical connection between forcing so many Americans to give up effective pain relief and the increasing numbers of suicides.

In 2019, according to the Department of Defense, 17 service members were killed during hostile situations in Afghanistan. The number of soldiers who killed themselves was nearly 19 times that amount.

The most recent numbers, coming from 2018, show that a total of 321 active-duty members took their lives during the year.

Not only are active duty soldiers tragically ending their own lives at an increasing rate, but once they finish their service, these numbers skyrocket.

While the suicide rate for active duty members is certainly shocking, veterans kill themselves at a rate nearly 200 percent more.

No one is looking at why veterans are killing themselves at a rate nearly double the national average. They are simply trying to put a band-aid on the problem which will never work.

No one wants to look at one of the obvious reasons: forced opioid tapers.

Many of these veteran suicides are now due to their unrelieved pain. Since the VHA implemented forced opioid tapers without any consideration of true medical need, veterans suffering from the lasting pain of war wounds have been forced to give up their pain medications.

When your body is broken and sends persistent pain signals to your brain, the idea of never getting relief for the rest of your life is like being sentenced to life in prison.

When people face a choice between a life with pain all day every day versus no life at all, it’s no wonder that many take the shortcut to escape their suffering.

When the state is done with its pawns of empire, it disposes of them like spent military gear.

This is the same with many employers, who whip their employees into working ever harder and faster with less time and for less money. Once a worker gives out from the daily stress, both physical and mental, they are discarded like a used Kleenex.

They then become unable to get the proper care they need for illness and injury related to their service.

After a person has been “broken” by whatever powers are paying them, there is no concern for their fate and no financial support for their medical needs.

If you really want to “support the troops” you’ll stop supporting wars of aggression in distant lands in which Americans are forced to kill people who pose no threat to the US.

If you really “support the troops” you’ll stop blindly standing up for your government whose proven track record shows that they do everything but support the troops.

Author: Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state.
Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.

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